Carole Shifrin

Articles

Regional airlines are undergoing a period of change in everything from ownership and partner relationships to route systems and aircraft fleets, and this is helping trigger a shake-up of maintenance models.

SÃO CARLOS—Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines expects to decide this summer whether to keep its maintenance, repair and overhaul unit as an internal part of the airline or spin it off as a separate company, creating an opportunity for a new shareholder to acquire a portion of it.

Empire Aerospace, a regional turboprop maintenance, repair and overhaul company based at Coeur d’Alene Airport in northern Idaho, is adding the Saab 340 to its list of MRO capabilities. The first three 340s from customer Saab Aircraft Leasing already have arrived at the company’s base and work on their refurbishment will begin next month, according to Empire Aerospace General Manager Tom Hamilton.

Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL this week will begin using a new, third hangar at its maintenance base at Confins International Airport in Belo Horizonte to accommodate its expanding fleet of Boeing 737 NG aircraft.

“We will have the ‘official’ launch on March 15,” said Constantino de Oliveira, GOL’s CEO, on the sidelines of the Raymond James 2010 Growth Airline Conference in New York.

Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol this week will begin using a new, third hangar at its maintenance base at Confins International Airport in Belo Horizonte to accommodate its expanding fleet of Boeing 737 NG aircraft.

“We will have the ‘official’ launch on March 15,” said Constantino de Oliveira Junior, Gol’s CEO, on the sidelines of the Raymond James 2010 Growth Airline Conference in New York.

Latin American maintenance, repair and overhaul providers continue to expand their offerings in the worldwide MRO market, with new capabilities and certifications coming on line all the time. With increasing numbers of new-generation Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer jets being delivered into the region, and still hundreds of older-generation aircraft needing more intensive maintenance, the potential market from Latin carriers alone is enough to spur MRO development in the region.

Embraer has suspended operations at its Executive Jet Services facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., a temporary shutdown that company officials say is a result of the economic downturn.

Embraer has suspended operations at its Executive Jet Services facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., a temporary shutdown company officials say is a result of the economic downturn.

Embraer has suspended operations at its Executive Jet Services facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., a temporary shutdown company officials say is a result of the economic downturn.

Growing numbers of Embraer 170/190 family aircraft operated by North American carriers are spurring maintenance, repair and overhaul providers to develop new capabilities to work on the increasingly popular twinjets.

Two MROs set to take advantage of the expanding market for 170/190 heavy maintenance services are Canada’s ExelTech Aerospace, which already has begun work on E-Jet aircraft, and Rome, N.Y.-based Empire Aero Center, which expects to have facilities, tooling and parts in place in the second quarter of this year.

They travel by train, plane and automobile. If by air, they can head to their mission on commercial aircraft, chartered aircraft or their company’s own airplane. Sometimes leaving their home or workplace at a moment’s notice, they can be gone a day or two, or two to three months. And their destinations could be anywhere in the world—from very remote locations, in the midst of monsoons and hurricanes, to the battlefield.

The general feeling among many of China’s naval neighbors and in U.S. military circles is that China has been turning into a bit of a bully in (re)staking territorial claims in the seas off its coasts....More

Former Editor-in-Chief Dave North wrote pilot reports on more than 120 aircraft during his career at Aviation Week. His visits to Embraer began in 1978, long before the Brazilian company’s privatization and emergence as a powerhouse in regional jets. Here, he recalls his Embraer experiences, culminating in a test flight of the E170....More